Built for the DEV Hacktoberfest 2026 Challenge: Week 1 — Touch Grass (
#hf26challenge)
"The best builds here should make the screen the shortest part of the experience."
Every autumn, millions of hikers scramble to catch the elusive 72-hour peak foliage window. Existing solutions are either:
- Coarse, paywalled tourism statewide maps that lack elevation accuracy.
- Clunky smartphone apps that require constant screen checking on the trail, ruining the immersion of nature.
Wander is built on a radical Zero-Screen Philosophy:
- < 30 seconds on screen: TabPFN computes the exact 72-hour peak window from micro-weather physics, elevation, and canopy species.
- At the trailhead: Listen to a 45-second ElevenLabs audio briefing outlining terrain, weather, and key species.
- On the trail: Carry a 1-page printable pocket field card. Your phone stays zipped away in your backpack.
| Partner | Role in Wander |
|---|---|
| TabPFN (Prior Labs) | Foundation tabular model forecasting chlorophyll breakdown %, 72h peak color window, and days-to-peak. |
| Tiger Data | PostgreSQL + pgvector store for trail geospatial data, forest tree species distributions, and hybrid natural language semantic search. |
| Temporal | Durable background workflow that periodically polls weather shifts and orchestrates batch TabPFN model recalculations with automated retries. |
| ElevenLabs | Generates 45-second audio pre-trail briefings for hands-free trailhead prep. |
| Render / DigitalOcean | Cloud deployment runtime for FastAPI backend and Vite/React web client. |
flowchart TD
subgraph Client ["Client Tier"]
UI["Web Dashboard (React + Vite + Tailwind)"]
PrintCard["1-Page Printable Pocket Field Card"]
AudioPlayer["Trailhead Audio Briefing Player"]
end
subgraph Backend ["Backend API (FastAPI)"]
Router["REST & Hybrid Search Endpoints"]
PocketCardEngine["Pocket Card Generator"]
ElevenLabsClient["ElevenLabs TTS Service"]
TabPFNEngine["TabPFN Tabular Regressor Engine"]
TigerDataClient["Tiger Data Vector Store Client"]
end
subgraph Storage ["Database & AI Engine"]
TigerDB[("Tiger Data (PostgreSQL + pgvector)")]
PhenologyData[("NOAA Weather + USFS Phenology Dataset")]
end
subgraph Orchestration ["Temporal Durable Execution"]
FoliageWorkflow["FoliageSyncWorkflow"]
WeatherActivity["fetch_micro_weather_activity"]
InferenceActivity["batch_tabpfn_inference_activity"]
SyncActivity["sync_tiger_db_activity"]
end
UI --> Router
PrintCard --> PocketCardEngine
AudioPlayer --> ElevenLabsClient
Router --> TigerDataClient
Router --> TabPFNEngine
Router --> PocketCardEngine
Router --> ElevenLabsClient
TigerDataClient --> TigerDB
TabPFNEngine --> PhenologyData
FoliageWorkflow --> WeatherActivity
WeatherActivity --> InferenceActivity
InferenceActivity --> TabPFNEngine
InferenceActivity --> SyncActivity
SyncActivity --> TigerDB
- Python 3.10+
- Node.js 18+ (for frontend)
# Navigate to backend
cd backend
# Create virtual environment
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt
# (Optional) Copy .env.example to .env and configure API keys
cp .env.example .env
# Run FastAPI development server
uvicorn app.main:app --reload --port 8000Visit the interactive API docs at http://localhost:8000/docs.
# Navigate to frontend
cd frontend
# Install dependencies
npm install
# Start development server
npm run devVisit the interactive web app at http://localhost:5173.
curl http://localhost:8000/api/trailscurl -X POST http://localhost:8000/api/search \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"query": "golden aspen trees near mountain lakes", "limit": 3}'curl -X POST http://localhost:8000/api/audio/briefing \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"trail_id": "trail-franconia-ridge-nh", "hiker_name": "Alex"}'curl -X POST http://localhost:8000/api/card/export \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"trail_id": "trail-maroon-bells-co"}'Wander is fully configured for zero-friction hosting on Render.
Deploy both the FastAPI backend and React static frontend automatically via Infrastructure as Code:
- Connect your repository to Render.
- Select New + > Blueprint.
- Select this repository. Render automatically reads
render.yaml, sets up the FastAPI Web Service and React Static Site, and wires their environment variables together.
Build and run the full stack as a single multi-stage Docker container via Dockerfile:
- Select New + > Web Service on Render with runtime Docker.
- Health Check Path:
/health.
For full setup details, environment variables, and zero-downtime healthcheck instructions, see Render Deployment Guide.
wander/
├── README.md # Public documentation & quickstart
├── render.yaml # Render Blueprint Infrastructure as Code
├── Dockerfile # Multi-stage production container
├── .dockerignore # Docker build exclusions
├── .python-version # Python 3.12 runtime specification
├── AGENT.md # Master context & hackathon strategy
├── WANDER_SPEC.md # Technical specification
├── .gitignore # Git ignore rules
│
├── docs/ # In-depth architectural & API documentation
│ ├── ARCHITECTURE.md # Detailed system design & flowcharts
│ ├── API_REFERENCE.md # Comprehensive REST API specifications
│ └── DEPLOYMENT.md # Complete Render hosting & runbook
│
├── backend/ # Python FastAPI Backend
│ ├── app/
│ │ ├── main.py # FastAPI entry point, CORS & static SPA serving
│ │ ├── config.py # Pydantic Settings configuration
│ │ ├── api/ # Modular REST route handlers
│ │ │ ├── trails.py # GET /api/trails
│ │ │ ├── search.py # POST /api/search (Hybrid pgvector)
│ │ │ ├── predict.py # POST /api/predict/foliage
│ │ │ ├── audio.py # POST /api/audio/briefing (ElevenLabs)
│ │ │ ├── card.py # POST /api/card/export (Printable card)
│ │ │ └── workflows.py # POST /api/workflows/trigger-sync
│ │ ├── services/ # Core business & AI logic
│ │ │ ├── phenology_model.py # TabPFN tabular regressor engine
│ │ │ ├── tiger_db.py # Tiger Data PostgreSQL + pgvector client
│ │ │ ├── elevenlabs_tts.py # ElevenLabs 45s audio generator
│ │ │ └── pocket_card.py # 1-page printable pocket guide engine
│ │ ├── schemas/ # Pydantic data schemas
│ │ └── workflows/ # Temporal durable workflows & activities
│ ├── data/
│ │ ├── seed_trails.json # Curated trails across US autumn regions
│ │ └── phenology_dataset.csv # USFS & NOAA historical training data
│ ├── requirements.txt
│ ├── .python-version
│ └── .env.example
│
└── frontend/ # React + Vite + Tailwind UI
├── src/ # Components, views, animations & API client
├── package.json
├── .env.example
└── vite.config.ts
MIT © 2026 Wander Team. Built with open-source passion for Hacktoberfest 2026.
